[James Romeyn]

I agree completely. Critical listening makes me critical. Just listening is pleasing and relaxing.
It's all about the music.
Have fun,
Jerry

Amen. 

Ooops!  Sorry! 

[pardales]

In my experience break-in is most noticeable with speakers.

[nathanm]

…Testing sucks.  Nobody wants to do it.  And guess what?  If you do torture yourself this way and bother to post your findings the very next thing you'll be doing is defending and refining your methodology in the hopes that some day you have a valid test.  It's an end in itself, wholly separate from the joy of listening.

Anybody wanting to do so, I heartily applaud so long as it's not used as a weapon.

You're talking about the difference between enjoying music and running listening tests and I am in full agreement.  However IF the question is wether or not break-in (or any other effect) is real or imagined then testing is necessary.  If one does not want to do testing to determine this and still make claims that break-in has occurred then we ought not to take such claims very seriously.  If one can blindly identify the broke-in component against a non-broke-in component with greater than chance accuracy then great.  Yes, this is boring and yes few people want to do it.  Great!  Just don't make claims then, that's all.  Just say "I like this one better, I dunno why, I just like it."  Nobody can touch you if you attribute your perceptions to the workings of your own brain, but when you attribute them to equipment then you're entering the realm of boring testing.

[miklorsmith]

It's not just boring, it's stressful as well.  I've done it (not for break-in).  My results were null but as soon as I got back to unstressed listening the results were obvious.  I've read that being a test subject is a learned skill and that untrained observers are unreliable because the testing procedures themselves hide some of what might actually be there.  Having experienced the heightened stress of testing I can believe this.  Needing to practice and hone my skill as a subject is yet another strike against me trying to prove anything.

Again, if nobody can make a claim without supporting data, AC is going to have tumbleweeds blowing through.  Deadwood.

Whether we choose to believe the viewpoints of many saying "I hear" or those who say "you shouldn't" is up to each observer.

[Double Ugly]

Since I am the one who started this thread - I will now, hopefully, be the one to end it!

    No sense in trying to stop a train.  Might as well just get out of the way.  Besides, it looks like the conversation is turning metaphysical.

Fortunately he does have the say to his thread's demise. If he wants it closed, that usually gets done.

Cheers,
Robin

That's true.  However, the thread is getting more real "discussion" and posters involved now and I don't have a problem with the direction it has taken. 

Unless Spirit specifically asks me to trash it (he hasn't), I'm inclined to let it continue.